Comments about ‘LDS Church announces limited layoffs’

You really do not know the devastation of taking someone's job away has on
a dedicated breadwinner and a family until you actually go through the motions
of trying to live through it. Pain beyond any description!

I am sure that the LDS church does know and it isn't something that they
want to do. There are way to many paid positions in the church which hopefully
can be replaced with service missionaries and volunteers. When I was working at
the MTC after my mission, I was teaching the Senior couples, there was a period
where there was no one to teach and I was going and doing nothing. I quit the
job, cause I did not feel right about having tithing money or whatever church
funds they came from, paying for me to sit idle.

I've been laid off and had a paltry severance package before. Reading that
the Church stated that they are going to work with those who are laid off and
give them a generous severance package is all anyone can ask for.

I am impressed. Regardless of the fact that a company/church is growing,
certain positions can become obsolete and/or duplicated, and should be
eliminated. Unfortunately, we rarely see job elimination in our government,
which either is continuously hiring or in hiring-freeze mode. Kudos and great
respect go to the LDS Church for its wise management of resources.

My husband has been laid off three times in his 20 year career as the
breadwinner of our family of 7 and it is devastating. He is generally an
optimistic and happy person, but not being able to provide for his family was
excruciating for him.

I feel for those who will be seeking new
employment because of this change. I do not believe however that the church
owes these people a job as a previous person stated. I believe the church is
doing everything it can and likely more than the average employer.

The traditional job is dead. People need to recognize that as technology
changes, the need for people diminishes or re-locates to areas closer to the
distribution points. What most encouraging is seeing how many major media
corporations are cutting back due to declining revenues. That's a sign
that information is becoming more democratized and less in the hands of the big
leftist corporations.

Wouldn't it be a really different situation if people generally lived debt
free (with the exception of their home until they can pay it off at the earliest
possible time), had at least 6 months of cash reserves, and paid 10% into their
long-term retirement plan and kept a year's supply of food (that is
edible!)?

Then, when they are laid off (most people will need to
find new employment several times in their working lives), they don't have
to panic or be depressed or be distraught (at least for a few months!) while
they look for a new position. They can live on their savings (and hopefully
some severance) and even pick up a part-time low-paying job for cash and
something to do while they wait for the right position to come along.

I have known people this disciplined and wise, and their experience being
unemployed is very different from others.

I am personally involved in this process, as we in Europe are going through a
similar process. What I can tell you, as one who has been made redundant by a
different company in the past, is that the Church has done every possible thing
to ensure that the staff members concerned are being taken care of. I have
personally sat with a senior manager as he has agonised over what is best to do
for each individual. There has been dialogue at every stage for everyone
involved, and the Church has tried to find alternative employment for everyone
within other departments.

I can tell "ROK," that the Church
has not operated "like any other business" in this. They have gone far
beyond what anyone should, and could, expect. I have seen this at first hand,
and can tell you that none of us that are personally involved feels anything but
good about the way it has been handled. Sorry if that doesn't fit with
some folks' opinions. It is merely the truth.

Not a huge fan of lay offs in any company. IMO, they should've been hired
temporarily or cutbacks could've been made gradually over the whole, rather
than at one fell swoop, so that they could be transferred to capacities
elsewhere in their overall corporation.

I find this sort of thing a
lack of foresight by management, which I hold entirely responsible for things
like this. Managers typically get paid more because they are entrusted with
employees whose lives are dependent upon them making important decisions
regarding the resources available to the company. If the church wants this to be
purely corporate in nature, they need to face the prospects that this is a
systematic management failure. There are alternatives to lay offs. Lay offs
disrupt the whole company, destroy morale of the workers still there, increase
their workloads and are a sign of a lack of longterm vision... not to mention
the poor folks being laid off and the crippling effects of joblessness.

Anyhow that's my opinion on the business end. This says nothing of
the religious aspects which I'm sure are entirely above board and
responsible and trustworthy.

Having had experience as a Church employee and reduction in force, I can vouch
for two things: (1) The Church leadership takes very seriously the impact that
RIFs have on people; and (2) the leadership does offer very generous severance
packages to try to help those impacted get through the difficult transition
period. Unlike our US government, the Church lives within its means, so some
painful realities exist and difficult decisions have to be made. My sincere
sympathies to those whose lives are being deeply affected.

I worked for an international corporation that used to force rank their
employee's performance and would lay off (let go) the bottom 10% every
year. At first I thought it was heartless and cruel but then it dawned on me
that it was to protect the rest of our jobs. In a very competitive world, many
companies fail because they are not efficient enough and that is a threat to
every employee. Be efficient or die in the real world!

Seek to understand - we lived just as you described, debt free, actually had a
year's savings in the bank, had a very low house payment, no other debt, we
owned our 2 cars and had a two year supply of food. While we waited for the
right position to come along (as my husband sent out resume after resume, did
interview after interview, and worked his tail off for 8 months this last time)
he worked as a ski lift operator. We could take care of ourselves just fine.

Nevertheless, when a man has been prepared to be a provider - in our
case 10 years of college and 3 good (useful) degrees at distinguished
universities - and takes seriously his god-given commandment to ,"multiply
and replenish the earth" and to "provide and protect", and then has
his ability to do so severed, it's not a cake walk for him even if he is
debt free. The family feels a lot less suffering when, with some belt
tightening, they can continue with the life they have known, but it is still
very hard on the father.

I've been self-employed about 20 of my 26 years in the workplace. When
you're self-employed you are laid off all the time. There is no severance
package when the project ends. No safety net. It is all about working hard. You
have to learn to create and recreate your opportunities. Our society is losing
people like myself and progressing rapidly towards an entitlement society where
a job is taken for granted. I don't wish unemployment on anyone, but anyone
who is unemployed and able bodied should take advantage of exploring their
creative side during that period and see what you may find. I'm sure many
do and those that are successful at it often find out that the saying is true,
"necessity is the Mother of invention" and fulfillment I might had.

I can tell you the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes very
serious any decision that affects their employees. It must be an important issue
for them to do this. There is not a more efficient or caring employer in the
world. They are fair, comparable and honest and I know they will do everything
they can to make this bearable for the employees that are being laid off. They
wouldn't do it any other way.

I would hope the church would treat their employees like they would want to be
treated, and as we're taught. I just wonder why they didn't institute
a "hiring freeze" a couple of years ago, and then offer incentives for
people to retire early or leave, instead of just issuing layoffs to hundreds of
people. Wouldn't that have been a more humane and "orderly" way to
do things? Or am I guilty of "steadying" the ark by even positing the
comment?